Excitement is Rising!!

For those who have been following my blog since I retired (way back in May) you will have witnessed my level of excitement from being mildly, to moderately, to excited..... well now I'm quite hyper!!! Not only has my painting been going really well, but I attended a very exciting meeting yesterday with Adam and Leon who are the guys behind the exhibition I will be doing from 25th to 29th September....... what a great couple of guys and their enthusiasm was so infectious!!!

First of all take a look at what will be "my Space"... the use of the model is to show the sheer size of it!!

It's huge!!! This is Adam chatting with one of the exhibitors. I am so happy I have spent the last couple of weeks getting a few more pieces done and framed.  The walls have yet to be painted white and a few more finishing touches to the space but it is so bright and modern and in total, for each week there will be 4 or 5 artists exhibiting for a period of 8 weeks.

Adam and Leon are young (well they seem really young to me!!) entrepreneurs, Leon has his own website business in Chorley net-heads and Adam has just graduated from Uni with a first class honours degree in Music Production.

The space has been unoccupied for something like 14 years and is right in the heart of Chorley, once a thriving market town in the North West but like many towns, now suffering more from the ravages of recession and downturn in the economy. Leon has taken it over and wants to develop the premises to create a "drop in office" facility which he hopes to have up and running early next year. In the meantime the space is empty and their idea was to fill it with music and art and to offer something different to Chorley and the North West.

Adam has worked so hard to get this up and running from absolutely nothing, he has built the website, Art of Ours He keeps in really good contact with all the artists and quite honestly this is an artists dream!!! Not only is the space fantastic, the whole set up is so focussed on the artists and nothing is too much trouble for these two young men. They are so incredibly flexible, supportive and open to ideas, and Adam will be manning the exhibition for the whole 8 weeks with a little help from one or two others and so far all we have to do is provide a synopsis, a list of all our work for display, turn up a couple of days before, hang our work and step back and admire!!!

Similarly Leon has also been helping get the space ready ..... he has such a "can do" attitude" and nothing is impossible, as I said earlier their enthusiasm is so infectious, it feels like I've sold pieces already.......... Leon is going to be (if not already!!) extremely successful in life!!! Private viewings were mentioned which may not be up and running for my 2nd week but would be fantastic events if they manage to get any planned.

I would urge everyone to come and have a look at what has been achieved here not just for my week of the exhibition but to come and see the space, the diversity of work to be displayed, from photography, to sculpture, to sound installations and to enjoy what has been created here.

So a big thank you to these two fabulous young people for having the idea, the vision, the enthusiasm, the will and tenacity to embark on this venture and I sincerely hope the whole thing is a resounding success, your hard work and endeavours deserve to be rewarded.  

I wish both Adam and Leon every success both for this and any future ventures and I hope you get masses of publicity to advertise your existing businesses and that this will be a fabulous spring board for the new use of the space.